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The Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF), established in 1996 at The Wharton School, is the leading and most prestigious student run business forum in the U.S. that is focused on India. WIEF's mission is to shed light on the enormous economic potential of India. The WIEF annual conference is not only a vehicle for raising the profile of the subcontinent, but is also a platform that offers a unique opportunity for participants and speakers to raise their profiles with key decision makers and engage with the best talent from the leading business schools.

Through its forum, which includes a conference and speaker engagements, WIEF seeks to stimulate an energetic dialogue between current and future business leaders. In recent years, 600 attendees have gathered to exchange ideas with prominent business figures, policy makers, working professionals, and students from several graduate and undergraduate institutions. Speakers from the past nine conferences have included P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister of India; Rajat Gupta, former Managing Director, McKinsey & Company; Victor Menezes, Vice-Chairman, Citigroup; Anil Ambani, Vice-Chairman and MD, Reliance Industries; N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys; and H.E. Lalit Mansingh, former Indian Ambassador to the US. The conference has also enjoyed widespread press coverage by leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The New York Times, The Economic Times and The Times of India.

The 2006 Wharton India Economic Forum held on November 11 in Philadelphia was a high-profile event that brought together Indian visionaries from the government, the corporate and the entertainment sector. Students partipating in the conference were seen interacting with leaders like Mr. Shashi Tharoor and Mr. Rahul Bajaj as well as renowned filmmaker Mr. Karan Johar and Air Deccan founder Captain Gopinath.

Industry

• Mr. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto
• Mr. Adi Godrej, Godrej Industries Ltd
• Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and MD, Biocon

Government

• Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Ex-Under Secretary General, United Nations

Finance

• Mr. Rajat Gupta, Former Worldwide Managing Director, McKinsey & Co
• Mr. O.P.Bhatt, Chairman, State Bank of India
• Mr. Akhil Gupta, Chairman, Blackstone India

Media/Entertainment

• Mr. Manmohan Shetty, Founder and Chairman, Adlabs
• Mr. Karan Johar, Filmmaker

• Mr.P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister, India
• Mr.Anil Ambani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited.
• Mr. Charles Kaye, Co-President, Warburg Pincus
• Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys
• Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC
• Mr. Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission
• Mr. N.K. Singh, Ex-Economic Advisor to the PM and Member of the Planning Commission, Government of India
• Mr. Avnish Bajaj, Chairman, eBay India
• Mr. Vivek Paul, Vice-Chairman, Wipro
• Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson, Biocon
• Lord Meghnad Desai, Member of the House of Lords, UK
• Mr. K.P. Singh, Chairman, DLF Universal Group
• Mr. Kunal Dasgupta, CEO, Sony Entertainment Television India
• Mrs. Shobha De, Author
• Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and MD, Reliance Industries
• Mr. Sunil Mittal, Chairman and MD, Bharti Enterprises
• Mr. Arshad Zakaria, Ex EVP & Co-President of Global Markets & Investment Banking, Merrill Lynch
• Mr. Udayan Bose, Chairman & CEO, Lazard (India)

For more details on WIEF 2006, Speakers and Past Conferences visit the Wharton India Economic Forum official website.

• Official Website